Abstract
Peach (Prunus persica) is an economically important temperate fruit crop due to its edible fruits. Due to the need to develop new varieties better adapted to climate change, it is of great interest to find germplasm adapted to warmer conditions, such as those found in the Canary Islands. Peach was an important crop during the last century in one of those islands (La Palma), but its cultivation has been abandoned in recent years. Currently, commercial production is relict and isolated trees are relegated to family orchards with little management. With the objective to characterize and prevent the loss of local varieties of this crop, peach trees were sampled along La Palma. A total of 89 local peach accessions were prospected and analyzed with 10 single-sequence repeat (SSR) loci, which permitted 28 different genotype profiles to be detected. These genotypes were compared to 95 Spanish peach landraces conserved in an ex situ collection, and 26 additional samples from eight different countries. Results showed that the peach genetic diversity found in La Palma was low. In addition, a relation between La Palma samples and other Spanish peaches was observed, which could indicate the arrival of genetic material from the Iberian Peninsula and subsequent intercrossing and local selection of the genotypes more adapted to the subtropical climate of the island. The population structure reflects a grouping of the samples based on fruit type and geographic origin.
Highlights
IntroductionAgronomy 2020, 9, x FOR PEER REVIEW cultivation could have occurred for more than 4000 years [1,2], more recent studies suggest an older domestication that could be dated back to at least 7500 years ago [3,4]
Peach (Prunus persica (L.) Batsch) is a diploid temperate fruit tree (2n = 2x = 16), with relevant commercial, ornamental, and economic value, that belongs to the genus Prunus in the subfamilyPrunoideae of the Rosaceae
Genetic profiles were represented by more than one sample in 35.7% of the cases, while 64.3% were represented by only one sample
Summary
Agronomy 2020, 9, x FOR PEER REVIEW cultivation could have occurred for more than 4000 years [1,2], more recent studies suggest an older domestication that could be dated back to at least 7500 years ago [3,4]. Peach is recent studies suggest an older domestication that could be dated back to at least 7500 years ago [3,4]. China, which accounts for more than half of the world’s production, million tons were produced in 2018, mainly in China, which accounts for more than half of the followed by Italy, Greece, Spain,byTurkey, the USA, and Iran [5]. Peach is a selfThe long cultivation compatible species [6,7]. Peach is a selfThe long cultivation compatible species [6,7]. period has led to significant peach diversification [8,9,10], showing a high diversity in
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